Franberry Sauce Brand Definition

Hi, I'm Fran. I have a degree in illustration, but I've spent the few years since graduation focusing solely on a jewellery business. While I do consider my products to be "illustrated jewellery", now that that business is doing fairly well I'd like to get back in to drawing things that aren't jewellery designs, so I'm going to have an illustration side-business. I've been dabbling in it here and there, mostly with quick postcard designs, but I'd like it to be a bit more.... professional I guess?

So here's my mind-dump.

Who:- Francesca Knightingale is my "nom de plume". It's almost my actual name, but Google my actual name and you just get the Knight Frank estate agents. I'm an illustrator, creative, geeky, perfectionist, obsessively enthusiatic, alternative (in terms of personal style), and a nature- and animal-lover. My starred items for this box are that I'm passionate about 'handmade', and I love weirdness, superstition, folklore and monsters.

What:- Illustrations in general! Prints, comics, zines, badges, stickers, patterns, notebooks, cards etc. I like to put humour into my work, I sometimes have a bit of dark humour, and I love puns. I would also base a lot of work on folklore and monsters. Weirdly, I use a lot of bright colours when I do use colour, but I also absolutely love working in just black and white, so I may end up with a mix.My main starred item is NO COMMISSIONS. I've done some in the past and had a bad experience with every single one, from clients trying to pay me in beer (when I don't even drink) to disappearing off the face of the Earth without payment, to making questionable decisions about what they want. On top of that, working on other peoples' ideas drains all the fun out of it for me. So since I already have a business bringing in money, I can afford to turn down all commission requests and do this on my terms.

Where:- Etsy is an obvious one. I'd also give Folksy a try, and look into Society 6. RedBubble and Zazzle would be great passive income streams. I wouldn't expect more than a few quid here and there, but for no-effort sales I may as well do it! I'd also love to build up a collection of Spoonflower fabrics. I already do a number of handmade fairs with my jewellery business, so taking illustrated things along would be no problem. My main starred item is comic cons, which I also already sell at, and small press fairs.

How:- My main focus will definitely be Instagram and Tumblr.

To appease the memory of my university course leader, I have also added an extra category on another page. He used to make us ask this for everything...

Why:- To not "waste" my degree. To supplement my income from my jewellery business. I have too many ideas not to! A big "Eff You" to past teachers - I know this is petty, but I've had more than my share of TERRIBLE art teachers in my time, so bad that I still to this day get angry thinking about them, so I do get a certain amount of smugness out of the fact that I can succeed not because of them, but despite them. And my main 2 reasons are just a NEED to create, and to reclaim drawing as a hobby and not just something I do for the latest necklace design.

PERFECT CUSTOMERS

Aoife (Irish, pronounced ee-fa) is in her late twenties, has a university degree and is self employed in a creative field. She is un-married, has no children, but a menagerie of pets and a boyfriend that she likes to buy quirky gifts for. Her income from her business is modest, but she has no significant outgoings and likes to support other creators. She loves to read independent and online comics, fantasy novels and her Tumblr and TapTastic feeds. She is a bit geeky, enjoying video games and being a little bit obsessed with Harry Potter.

She is basically me in a few years if I can get my s**t together, and have space for more than one pet.

Sheila (named after my nanna, who taught me to paint) is in her mid-forties. She is married and has two children and a dog. Her hobbies include crafting and baking, and she is a bit of a Pinterest addict. While she may seem a bit "Martha Stewart" on the outside, she actually has a wicked sense of humour, and loves to browse the Controversial Crafts Facebook group (it's real, I'm a member!), which is full of swear words and insulting mugs and more. She likes to have a laugh with her like-minded friends, and often buys them humourous (and slightly rude) birthday cards.

Sheila is based on a lot of the ladies I see in Controversial Crafts, and also on all the middle-aged and even elderly ladies who come past my jewellery stalls and have a good giggle over my one piece of swearing jewellery. They're my favourite customers!

I'll be working on Pinterest boards soon!

Brand Questionnaire:

What do I sell? Beautifully quirky illustrated products

What is the price range of my products? From postcards and badges as low as £1.50, to prints, comics and notebook bundles up to £10

Yumi: Quirky and unusual prints, often based on nature and animals, on beautiful dresses. I love that they produce clothing that isn't boring. Life is too short to wear boring clothes! I pick up a lot of their dresses in sales or on eBay (because unfortunately they are expensive) and I particularly like to wear them to my events because they fit so well with the aesthetic of my jewellery.

Paperchase: I love their whole "thing". Cute and quirky (I will be using this word a lot, it seems) stationery, gifts, homeware and more, with beautiful and colourful designs. They also stock cards ranging from traditional to unusual and funny, with beautiful colours and typography and illustrations.

Soap and Glory: I fell completely in love with their packaging, and the puns they use in naming their products.

What's my customer's emotional response to my brand... and the brand experience? Happy, amused, excited, interested. That's how I tend to feel when I come across an artist I like at one of my events.

Where do I currently sell my products? I sell a few postcards alongside my jewellery, but they're old designs and I plan to re-draw each idea anyway. So nowhere. Nothing else exists yet!

Where would I like to sell my products in the future? Comic Cons, Handmade fairs. Etsy, Folksy, Not On The HighStreet, Spoonflower. Perhaps some brick-and-mortar artsy-type shops.

Where do I see my business in...

1 year? I will have completed a comic. I will have at least two pattern collections available on Spoonflower. I will have a growing range of greetings cards, badge/magnet sets, and prints.

5 years? I will have completed two more comics and I will be working on a webcomic. I will be making a little bit of passive income from Spoonflower and RedBubble/Zazzle. I will have built up a decent network of illustrator friends that I meet at events and online over Tumblr. I will have cards, notebooks and other gifts being sold in a few shops.

10 years? I will be earning a fairly decent sideline income from a combination of Spoonflower, RedBubble, Zazzle and "easy-sell" items such as greetings cards. I will have made many new friends in the UK illustration scene, and I will have a number of completed comics. I will have made drawing a daily habit that I genuinely enjoy. Maybe I would even have a fairly popular Tumblr blog, or whatever website has replaced Tumblr by then.

Who is my ideal customer? People who appreciate independent comics and illustration, who have a sense of humour, who enjoy supporting local artists.

What is my brand name? As a last minute decision, I am changing from my original idea of Knightingale Press to the new idea of Franberry Sauce. It's from a growing list of plays on my name that my friends and I like to come up with, including Frannosaurus Rex (my most used username), Francakes, Frangipane, Franta Fruit Twist and more. I think it's more fun and, let's use that word again, quirky than Knightingale Press, and would make a cute Tumblr URL, so... Yes. Franberry Sauce.

Logos I like:

Logo Questionnaire:

My brand name: Franberry Sauce

What I do: Making your world a little more beautiful with quirky, fun and fantastical illustrated goodies.

Pricing: Affordable, pocket money items.

Target market: Other creators (Artist's Alley at Comic Cons, for example. It tends to be a tight knit community who support each other both emotionally and financially). People who like to support artists, have an interest in handmade, indie comics, etc.

Logos I like: (see above) I tend to like round logos, for some reason. I am also a sucker for the whole faux-vintage hipster-type logo look. I know it's fairly cliché, but still. I love it. Beautiful typography. I'd want a logo that works well in black and white as well as colour.

My competitors are: I have never considered other artists/creators as competitors, as everyone has their own style and audience, and I've never come across another maker acting competitive against someone! So I would say my true competitors are the mass-production companies, who churn out generic designs at low cost and often low quality.

Colour preferences: Black and white must work. Otherwise, my favourite colours to use in my work are teal/turquoise, mustard yellow, dusky pink, yellow-green (but not lime), burnt orange, warm purples, and pastels. I would quite like a logo that would work with multiple colours.